West Virginia Women’s Basketball: Mountaineers Exploit BYU for 31 Turnovers in Win

The #18 West Virginia Mountaineers women’s basketball team secured a 66-53 win over Big 12 conference opponent BYU on Saturday, improving to 12-2 on the season and 2-1 in the Big 12 . BYU meanwhile falls to 9-5, including 0-3 in conference play.

Turnovers Huge for West Virginia

BYU finished the game in control of nearly every statistical category, including shooting 47.7% from the field and 36.8% from deep, while the Mountaineers shot 34.7% to include 29% from three point range. The Cougars also outrebounded the Mountaineers 42-34, however West Virginia’s turnover margin of 31 to 8 was enough to secure a 13 point victory in Morgantown.

Senior Star Continues to Shine Bright

The Mountaineers came up with 16 steals, led by senior guard JJ Quinerly who tallied 5 of her own. Quinerly also finished the game with a team high 19 points. She has proven herself as the go-to offensive threat for West Virginia this season, scoring double digits in every game thus far. Quinerly has played her entire collegiate career at West Virginia, averaging 15 points per game over that span and 18.7 this season. She is currently fourth in the Big 12 in PPG and second in steals behind teammate and conference leader Kyah Watson. Quinerly has also refined her free throw shooting as well, improving from 69.5% at the charity stripe as a freshman to 82.9% this season.

Additional Support

Senior Kyah Watson added 10 points of her own, as well as a team high 9 rebounds for the Mountaineers. She had 4 steals and no turnovers in the victory. Sydney Shaw and Jordan Harrison also managed to create havoc, securing 3 steals a piece, while Sydney Woodley had 1 of her own.

Road Test

West Virginia will look to build on their win Saturday with a pair of road games against Texas Tech (12-4, 1-2) and Oklahoma State (12-2, 2-1) before returning home to face the Colorado Buffaloes (10-4, 1-2).

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